The Case of United States vs. Arizona Begins Today

The United States government will take Arizona to court today, where the Justice Department will challenge the constitutionality of the state’s recent immigration law. Lawyers representing the federal government will attempt to prove to a Phoenix judge, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, that enforcing immigration is a national responsibility, and therefore the federal government should dictate its policies. In turn, Arizona will argue that the legislation is no different from any other immigration law crafted at the state or local level.In an unusual move, the Justice Department’s opponent will not be the Arizona attorney general. “At [Governor Jan] Brewer's insistence, Democratic state Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office normally defends the state in lawsuits, withdrew from the legal team. An opponent of the Arizona immigration law, he is running against Brewer for governor this year,” reports The Washington Post. The state of Arizona will instead be represented byattorneys from the firm Snell and Wilmer, who sound very respectable. The law is set to go into effect on July 29, but the Justice Department is seeking an injunction which would prevent that from happening. “Snell and Wilmer vs. the Department of Justice”: evokes more gravitas than “U.S. vs. Arizona”, no?